Visiting Himeji/Carlos Pueblo

Visiting Himeji/Carlos Pueblo

Traveling from Kanazawa to Himeji, I have me take a tourist express train

across the central mountain area of Japan on Hakuriku Line, the future of

Hakuriku Shingansen, passing through some pretty cities such as Fukui and

The beautiful Biwa Lake, of course, I didn’t see very much of the lake due to

snowing. The 4^th Senior High of Ishikawa and 3^rd Senior High of Kyoto athletes

competed in rowboat before the War as recorded. In two hours I reached to

Kyoto Station and transferred to Shingansen to Himeji in an hour. As usual,

I encountered certain difficulty to locate the Hostel inside a busy shopping

center not far from the famous Himeji Castle.

Finally, I found the small inn and waited in front of the door until a lady manager

woke me up. I was all sodden and in a panic due to the heavy rain. She took my

luggage inside and asked me to come back at four, daily open hour. I wondered

around the shopping center had food and dessert, a kind of small fish shape cake

with sweet red bean paste in it. Reiko, the lady manager on duty, was our Dallas

SMU educated, speaks good English and the next day manager, Poon is a sophomore

at the university both are very polite and kind. I had visited the Castle, an art Museum,

and the Koko-En Garden, an unique Japanese garden next to the Castle.

Himeji Castle is white color is also called White Egret Castle, or White Heron Castle

because it looks from distance like the bird is opening its wings and ready to take off.

A Castle has always had an interesting history behind it especially after such a long

Time that I call it a legend. Aksmatsu Norimara was appointed here as a lord in 1333

and built the first stage of this Castle to protect his domain, this was Ashikaga’s

Muromachi era, the one before Togugawa. Toyotomi Hedeyoshi made a big addition

To the 3^rd story in 1581. Tokugawa Ieyasu gave it to Ikeda Terumasa for his loyalty and

help in the decisive Sekigahara Battle. He kept on building the Castle between 1601-

1609. For some reason that I haven’t understood, the Daimyo became Honda Tadamasa.

He married Ieyasu’s first granddaughter, Kumahime. Look, hime is a honor greeting of

A lady in Japanese. His son, Honda Tadatoki, married Ieyasu’s successor, Hidetada’s

Daughter, Senhime. Senhime and kumahime are cousins. This Senhime had a very

happy life in her 10 years marriage with Tadatoki. I run out of my space to describe

more. The other two famous Castles in Japan are Matsumoto Castle and Kumamoto

Castle among the 100 preserved Castles in Japan.

Koko-En Garden is the closed neighbor of the Castle with classical design yet current

Construction, small bridge and the brook stream with a lot of colorful koi carps swimming

around. The Garden consists of pine, bamboo, plum, and peach sub-garden with a one

story tea house very beautiful, of course, many flower cherry trees.

姬路行/莊峻華

 姬路行/莊峻華

從金澤到姬路，需要越過北陸線福井市等漂亮城鎮，此為2022年之北陸

新幹線，依山傍海，風光明媚，過去金澤四高和京都三高學生選手，就在

琵琶湖划船競賽，將來北陸線，可盼通行抵京都，不過目前之特急觀光車，

雷鳥號，非常舒適，約兩小時許，就達京都，換新新幹線一小時，就到姬

路市。姬路市冰雨不停，我尋找旅社有困難，問上許多人，找到旅社，卻

須等候到下午四點，始有人在，於是我在門口小椅上等候，商街防雨設備

欠佳，約是鄰居店舖有人通知，旅店經理，開車前來喚醒我，這時候是下

午兩點，見我狼狽狀，要我四點回來，我可以先寄放笨重行李，走出旅社

附近，就是著名之姬路城。

我可以日語自我介紹自己，結果引來一位台灣女同鄉，她在驛前御案內中

心，很快的我們台語交談，非常親切。旅社這位女經理，曾在我們德州達

拉斯之南美以美大學兩年，英語流利，翌日值勤經理，是位女大學生，準

備將來教書，兩位均非常敬業親切，令我印象深刻。有趣事甚多，特舉一

例，鯛燒，我以為是烤魚，結果是一種甜點，一種魚型紅豆餅。我需原歸

正傳，我在姬路市，參觀姬路城，美術館，和好古園。

日本人暱稱姬路城為白鷺城，近代攝影，遠觀相片，確似白鷺斯展翅，真是

偉大美麗之建築，1333年，赤松則村受封於此，受室町幕府之足利高氏之封

，他開始興建城堡，就是今日之姬路城；1581年，豐臣秀吉，加蓋三樓，關

原之戰後，德川家康贈與功臣池田輝政，1601-1609，池田有擴建；不久，籓

主易人，這都是早期江戶時代，本多忠政，其父為本多忠勝，本多父子，有

戰功於德川，所以封籓，統領數州，年收一百萬石，和金澤加賀籓之前田相

同實力，比仙台青葉城之伊達83萬石稍高。德川家康，將長子之長女，嫁給

本多忠政，傳人二代將軍秀忠之長女千姬，嫁給忠政之長子，城內有族譜展示

，我覺得有趣，日本貴族，近親繁殖，難怪後代體質甚劣，我查一下維基字典

，族譜中甚至包括，織田信長之胞妹。千姬先嫁豐臣之子，其祖家康，砲擊大

阪城，置其夫，長子﹝秀吉之孫﹞，和其婆婆於死地，就是斬草除根。千姬再

嫁後，其公公忠政，添增西丸，為小夫妻寓所，是一長廊形，頗具規模，其夫

因肺結核早逝，據曰此為千姬，最美滿之十年。我查維基，姬路城，松本城，和

熊本城，是日本一百座古城之前三名。

好古園花園，就在城旁，是近代設計，我在阿根廷布宜諾市，不願買票參觀日本

花園是正確者也，花園內有小橋流水，錦鯉漫遊水池中，有松竹桃李園，茶屋候

客，當然要購票，小城垣連結於水池中，雕龍玉切應猶在，約是此境。

Visiting Kanazawa/ Carlos Pueblo

Visiting Kanazawa/ Carlos Pueblo

I was waiting at Niigata Station to take an express train via Echigo Line to

Kashiwasaki Station to continue to Shinetsu Main Line to Naoetsu Station

to connect to Kakuriku Shinkansen to Kanazawa. My problem is that the

express stops at Joetsumyoko Station which is not a Japan Rail System but

a local rail line, Kita Shinano Line. I must pay 450 yen to pass the station to

Shinkansen station. I attempted to argue my way to pass the exit yet there

was only 8 minutes  and my Japanese conversation was not quite sufficient

for argument, finally I gave in to pay the staff 500 yen. He was released and

put on his uniform hat, grasping my luggage and rush out toward Shinkansen

entrance. The Shinkansen staff understood the situation and smile sign to

pass. This Hakuriku Shinkansen only opened last year, 20115, an extension

to Fukui City will be completed in 2022 planned in 2012. Japan Rail is always

expanding for example, on 03/26/2016, Shinkansen will go through the great

tunnel from Aomri, Honshu to Hakodate, Hokkaido.

 Kanazawa city is very pretty yet very unique, actually all cities and township along

the railroad are very beautiful, at least Japanese make them very clean and pretty.

I have visited the Oyama Jinja Shrine, the fourth High School Memorial Museum,

Passing by Kanazawa Castle Park and Kenroku-En Garden, Daisetsu Teitaro Suzuki

Memorial, and a small tatami tea house nearby Kanazawa Art Museum of which I

Was very much impressed. It was donated by the last lord of Kanazawa to the city

Moved from Kanakawa Prefecture near Tokyo, it consists a tea house and snow ground

garden etc. I checked the Furoumachi Bakufu history, after the mid term of Ashikaga

Shogun, Kanazawa was ruled by Buddhist monks called themselves Peasant’s Kingdom.

That was a pure land section of Kyoto Honganji until mid 16 century, Oda Nobunaga sent

his deputy, Sakuma Morimasa, to conquer those monks, who became the lord of Kaga

briefly, another deputy, Maedo Toshiie defeated him and became the new lord of Kaga

later becoming a much bigger lord of Kanazawa. His wife, matsu, was quite famous at that

time, has a statue on the Oyama Shrine. I run out of space to describe more history.

I want to describe my surprise during my visit of Kanazawa. I ran into the Ishikawa Kodo

Gatgou, the old Ishikawa Senior High School Memorial Museum. The school was built in

1887 as my alma mater, Taiwan Normal predecessor, Taihoku Kodo Gatgo was built in

1922. They were all the products of the Great  Meji Restoration.

I also visited Suzuki Daisetsu Teitarou Memorial Museum. Suzuki is very famous for his

Zen Buddhism.

奧斯丁行2016/莊峻華

奧斯丁行2016/莊峻華

今晨開車順利抵達奧斯丁，參加台灣社年會，我順便向有興趣之同鄉，

介紹我心慕中之日本，因為時間緊湊，我只能介紹到金澤市，我很迅速

的描述到東京泉岳寺，鎌倉市，仙台市，函館市，秋田市，新瀉市，和

金澤市，我只介紹一些戰國時代，但因為電腦出差錯，遺憾無圖為證，

但我還是期待有興趣之同鄉，可以按照城市，在谷歌維基字典，尋找介

紹和風景相片，謝謝同鄉好意，招待豐盛午餐。

今年好年，結束中國人，在台灣71年之統治，1945年，台灣和日本，相

差有限，台灣固然是日本帝國之殖民地，但是日本帝國，在台灣有健全之

學校教育，我舉金澤之石川高校，舊四高，1888年設立，和我母校台北高

校，1922年設立相比較，台北帝國大學，今日之台大，當年都是為在台灣

之一百萬日本人所設立，結果許多台灣人，順便接受到日本優秀之學校教育

，是近代教育，國民義務教育六年，書讀好者，可以繼續升學，然後為國家

所用，我認為日本學校教育出身之父執輩，講究禮貌，正直不屈，尊守法律

，講話算話，教出來子女，就像柯文哲，陳佩琪一般；反觀馬英九，郝龍斌

之中國人父母，只能教養出兩位，被台北市政府，移送法辦之，雞鳴狗盜之

徒。

所以我跟著京都帝大之謝長廷說，台灣維新，台灣要變法圖生存。變法首務，

在於教育，在於實務應用之科技，讓畢業生，馬上可為國家所用，或是先進

國家所用，得以謀生，養家活口，國家社會輿論，不再標榜金錢和權力，鼓勵

國民，做一有用之國民，過有意義之生活。

法官在過去，為虎作倀者，須查明後退出職位。參考德國轉型正義法令，務使

台灣社會公正，自由民主法治，有人權，這是我旅行之心得，提供同鄉參考。

金澤行/莊峻華

金澤行/莊峻華

我在新瀉驛搭車，準備搭越後線到直江津，換北陸新幹線到金澤，遇見

一小插曲，今日我再查閱路線，始知一二。原來我被安排在，上越妙高

驛換新幹線，不是直江津，直江津是日鐵車站，上越妙高不是，越後線

在柏崎接信越本線，日鐵和北信濃鐵道合作，剛好上越妙高是信鐵車站

，我需繳450日圓過站費，我想灰但上下車，只有8分鐘，後來只好就

範，掏出500日圓硬幣，年輕職員，連忙帶上帽子，幫我提上行李，衝

向日鐵月台，日鐵職員似乎了解，也不查票。這北陸新幹線，通達金澤

，不過是去年，日鐵已在2012年規劃延伸到福井，準備2012年完工，日

本一直在進步中，在過一個月，新幹線可達函館，03/26/2016。

金澤是一美麗古城，其實日本鐵道兩旁城市均甚美麗，我在金澤市，參觀

尾山神社，舊石川高校紀念館，兼六園，鈴木大拙貞太郎紀念館，末代前

田籓主小屋花園。我查一下，室町幕府中段後，足利勢力已經，鞭長莫及，

金澤佛教和尚，在金澤成立平民王國，號曰共和國，一直到織田信長，派

佐久間守正出兵征服，這些佛教僧侶，屬京都之本願寺，淨土宗教派。佐

久間短暫為加賀籓主，不久背叛織田，前田利家前去討伐，這就是日本之

戰國時代。利家驍勇善戰，征服不斷，後來取信於豐臣秀吉，穩定金澤統

治，尾山神社，規模甚大，雄偉壯觀，神社門日西合壁，秀吉歿後，託孤

於五大老，惟利家一年後亦亡。神社中有一巨大石塊碑，是其元配，前田

松紀念碑，此夫人文武全才，膽識過人，前田二代主，在關原之戰，投靠

德川家康，故封百萬石，並建造金澤城，為釋疑於德川幕府，阿松自配人

質於江戶，第二、三代城主，均慎言節飲食，致力於文化工藝之發展，輪

島塗漆為一例。

明治維新，大政奉還後，1887年，維新政府，在金澤設立石川高等學校，

就是戰前舊制第四高校，有別於東京之一高，仙台之二高，京都之三高，

這是明治開始之，日本教育制度，四高就在尾山神社旁，兼六園公園，

金澤城，金澤大學都是鄰居，四高戰後併入金澤大學，原校址成為四高

紀念館，這紅樓嶄新，似曾相識，我之母校，台灣師大，也有歌德似紅樓，

這原是台北高等學校，1922年設立。

鈴木大拙貞太郎，是四高校友，也是東京帝大校友，是金澤人，在金澤有

一紀念館，他95高齡，圓寂於神奈川之鎌倉市，剛才我拜讀他和中國胡適

之禪宗論文，十分有趣。回程路上，我參觀前田末代籓主，捐贈金澤市府之

茶屋花園，這是從金澤市，搬到東部神奈川縣鎌倉，再搬回金澤之大手筆，

確實價值。

Visiting Niigata/Carlos Pueblo

Visiting Niigata/Carlos Pueblo

I ran into a pair of Taiwanese travelers, an elder and his brother-in-law, at

Akita Station while waiting for Uetsu Main Line to Niigata. The elder who lives

In California comforted me for missing Gonou Line where they were going that

Morning. Gonou Line runs along the northwest coast of Honshu Island from

Akita to Aomori is one of the prettiest scenery in Japan Rail ride. He has been

visiting Japan for 50 times and seems very familiar with the country. He told me

Uetsu Line was also very pretty as well. It is a continuation of the railroad line

from Akita south to Niigata on the coastal line of the Sea of Japan. I like the wave

of the Sea of Japan in the fall. I was there on the coastal train of Ishikari Bay from

Sapporo to Otaru in the fall of 2014. The sea wave reminded me the picture of

Japanese art, small wave peacefully rolling up to the beach. This time was in the

winter, the wave pounded the beach harder.

I have to walk across the Shinano River, also known as Chikuma River in Nagano

Prefecture. I also known a song, Chikuma River, by Itsuki Hiroshi and the river is

the longest one in Japan, 274 miles. The bridge is also very famous, Bandai Bridge,

built by stone in 1929. This stone bridge reminds me very much of Taihoku Meji

Bridge built in 1901 in Taipei, Taiwan, yet a Chinese mayor of Taipei took it down

in 2002.

 Information center gave me a walking map to visit the old city, Nuttari. This is on

the other side of my hotel; therefore, I must walk back across the Bandai Bridge

in the snowing and raining morning, making a left turn on Bandai Matchi to enter

the old town Bandaicho-Dori, Nuttari Teramachi Temple Quarter. The shopping

Arcade reminds me very much of my childhood hometown, small stores and single

story buildings. I did not visit the famous sake breweries at least of three fermentation

factories, yet there were several shrines which I visited.

Back to Bandai Bridge toward my hotel, it is Motomachi of the city, more modern

shopping center and tall building. I met a laboratory dog at the front step of the

hotel . It was raining and he was all wet. The lady owner heard that I sweet talked to

the dog and spoke to me in English. I was worried about the rain and hurried up my

conversation. The weather was a little bit warmer, from snow fall to rain, yet it was still

very cold.

新瀉行/莊峻華

新瀉行/莊峻華

 我在秋田驛月台走道，等候羽越本線，特急列車到新瀉市，遇見一雙

台灣歐吉桑走過，加州來之姊夫曰，將搭五能線，我心生羨慕，他安

慰我，羽越本線，也甚美麗，我想都是，日本海本線，他說已經來日

本旅行50次，姊姊派弟弟同行，順便照顧姊夫，姊夫年紀稍長於我，

元氣十足，談不到幾句，就需上車，我搭不上五能線到秋田，只好等

待下次。羽越線和五能線，都是沿著日本海岸，冬季偶遇海浪，我看

過的石狩灣日本海，海波徐徐溢向海灘，激起白色泡沫，完全像是日

本風景畫，我對日本海有憧憬，歌謠和電影，日本海沿岸，多半是農

村，多半是樸實，沒有太平洋東案之繁榮。

信濃川是日本第一大河川，最大也最長，全長367公里，流經新瀉，長

野，和群馬三縣，回來查維基字典，始知在長野縣，就是鼎鼎大名之，

千曲川，五木廣志之思鄉名曲。我在雨雪中步行，走過萬代橋，萬代橋

跨過信濃川，萬代橋在1929年興建，仍舊維護像全新狀況，萬代橋令我

想起讓中國人拆掉之，台北明治橋，是1901年興建，2002年為中國人拆

除。

驛內小姐，給我一張街步地圖，我住在萬代橋另端，街步區是新瀉市沼垂

區，早上我需要從旅社，走回新瀉驛，越過萬代橋，還是下雪雨，在萬代

町通左轉，然後就是沼垂寺町，許多廟宇神社，經過一些商街，我猜這是

新瀉市老街，其中有一處是高砂稻荷神社，沼垂白山神社，和一今代司酒

造，和峰村釀造，新瀉市以釀酒和豆類發酵馳名，我不敢久留。北日本有

佳肴地酒和居酒屋，強調清酒和刺身，我猜測都是昂貴，我尚不習慣，如

此花費。

走回旅社，仍舊經過萬代橋，然後就是從東大通，到正谷小路，就是元町，

許多新型店面。晚上，我在旅社地下室洗衣服，外面下大雨，有一女士，牽

一愛犬經過，愛犬豬肝色，背心淋濕，我吹口哨呼喚，愛犬趨近，讓我撫摸

，我習慣呼叫蜂蜜甜心，愛犬是標準之拉布拉多犬，主人英語詢問我，來自

何？方我連忙回答，並督促攜犬回家，犬身均濕透矣。

新瀉附近是，滑雪勝地，新瀉曾經舉辦過，世界杯足球賽，長野舉辦過，冬

季奧運。